Editorial: Any (other) port in a labor storm

Dec. 2, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Clerical workers picket in the rain at entrance to Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles, Nov. 29, 2012. Cargo ships were stacking up at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a strike by about about 70 clerical workers shut down most of the terminals that together are the nation's busiest port complex. Dockworkers were refusing to cross the picket lines even though an arbitrator ruled the walkout invalid on Tuesday. By Thursday morning, at least 18 ships docked and inside the adjacent harbors were not being serviced, port spokesmen said. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Clerical workers picket in the rain at entrance to Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles, Nov. 29, 2012. Cargo ships were stacking up at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a strike by about about 70 clerical workers shut down most of the terminals that together are the nation's busiest port complex. Dockworkers were refusing to cross the picket lines even though an arbitrator ruled the walkout invalid on Tuesday. By Thursday morning, at least 18 ships docked and inside the adjacent harbors were not being serviced, port spokesmen said. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Cold seawater was thrown on the fragile U.S. and California economic recoveries last week as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit struck at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which, combined, are America's largest port complex. The bargaining unit comprises only about 800 workers.

"Other longshore bargaining units refused to cross [picket] lines, and no cargo at the nine affected terminals was unloaded or loaded after the strike began," the Los Angeles Daily News reported. "Officials said shipping lines were either sending ships to other ports or having them wait off the coast." At issue is the replacement of a contract that expired in 2010.

Bloomberg News reported, "The employers said ... that clerical workers rejected a proposed increase in compensation to more than $190,000 in wages and benefits." It's hard to see how clerical workers can turn down such compensation, especially with unemployment still 10.1 percent in California.

The real gripe of the workers is that they want both high pay and job security, Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi told us. "They're afraid the shipments will go elsewhere, and they will lose their jobs," he said. "The producers now have alternatives on where to ship their goods."

On the West Coast, ports in Oakland and Seattle are available. And the Gulf states, which have right-to-work laws that weaken union power, have been rapidly expanding shipping activity in recent years.

Mr. Adibi said that the good news is that the strike is occurring now, after most Christmas goods already have been received. "It won't impact retail much," he said. "However ... a one-month strike would impact the supply chain."

In particular, end products would be reduced, such as automobiles shipped from Asia. U.S. production also would be hurt by delays in imports of components, such as microchips, for products assembled here.

The clerical workers' union complains that their work is being sent overseas. "Automation has made it easier for companies to outsource this work," said ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal. "Over the years those incidents have increased, and the companies have been caught red-handed over and over again."

Ironically, it is the low level of protectionism against foreign goods that has produced so much business for the L.A.-Long Beach ports. Yet the ILWU now wants protectionism for itself.

It is disturbing that as few as 800 highly paid workers can shut down a sizable part of the U.S. economy because of demands for what critics call "featherbedding" – keeping people in jobs that no longer are needed. The ILWU would be wise to end this strike right away. Otherwise, it will lose even more jobs to other ports.

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